James Smith was born in MacDuff, Scotland on 18 March 1793 and died in Sackville, New Brunswick on 16 August, 1865. He married Isobell Bruce in 1815 and had eight children with her, one of them being Abner Smith (1835-1904), born in Shemogue, New Brunswick. Isobell died in 1842 in Shemogue, New Brunswick. James later married Abigail Peirse in Amherst, Nova Scotia in 1845. During the first half of the 19th century, James Smith manufactured harnesses, boots, and shoes, and by the 1850s his was one of at least seven tanneries located in Middle Sackville. Abner carried on his father’s large-scale boot and shoe operation and in 1865 he established Abner Smith’s Manufacturer of Boots and Shoes in Middle Sackville, New Brunswick. The company remained active for thirty-seven years until it was purchased by the Standard Manufacturing Company organized by A. E. Wry in 1903 (renamed A. E. Wry Standard, Ltd in 1914).